YouTube buys video production firm Next New Networks

Focus will remain on producing platforms rather than videos

By John Ribeiro

March 8, 2011

IDG News Service

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YouTube has acquired web video production startup Next New Networks to help contributors to YouTube make successful videos.

Next New Networks will be a laboratory for experimentation and innovation within YouTube, with the team working with a wide variety of content partners and emerging talent to help them succeed on YouTube, the Google subsidiary said Monday in a post on its official blog site.

The Next New Networks team has built an effective platform for developing, packaging and building audiences around original web video programming, attracting over two billion views and six million subscribers across its partner networks of channels and shows, YouTube said. The company was founded in 2007 in New York.

The financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

YouTube is also setting up a new team, called YouTube Next, focused on giving a boost to creator development and partner growth. The new team will start a series of YouTube Next branded programs and services, that will build on past partner programs, such as its Partner Grants Program that advanced funds to partners based on future YouTube revenue share.

The video site said the acquisition of Next New Networks and the creation of the new group does not change the company’s focus on technology platforms for creators, leaving the actual creation of videos to its partners.

YouTube said its partner program had grown to 15,000 partners last year, with the number of partners making over $1,000 a month up 300 percent since the beginning of 2010.